NFL Week Four Previews.

NFL Week Four Previews

Yes, every week of football matters in the NFL. Week One Has No More Value Than Week Four, and Every Forward tie together Into One Story, But This Slate Of Games Looks Fairly Underwhelming. I Love The NFL's international push, but a 9:30 a.m. game in Germany is a Tough Demand for a late-night coffee addict like myself. Cowboys Versus Packers In Primetime Has Exuberant Headline And Narrative Mojo, But Outside Of The Micah Parsons' Trade And Contract Delimma Jargon And The Fact That Both Teams Just Suffered Tough LossES, This Game Looks Lopsided In The Packers' Favor. Jordan Love needs a Dallas-level defense To Get The Packers' Offense Back On top Of The League trail. The Chiefs Versus The Ravens Had Some Potential At The Start Of The Season. Still, Kansas City's Offense Continues To melt down, no matter how big Tyquan Thornton Buzz Will Shift The Chiefs Towards Elite In Terms Of Efficiency. The Chiefs' Defense Shut Down Russell Wilson, Something The Cowboys failed to achieve. However, right now, Steve Spagnola's Unit stands in the middle of the league. Meanwhile, the Ravens Continue to Throw Away Potential Wins. The Offense Has Scored 30 Or More Points In All Three Games.

Only Tampa Bay Versus The Eagles Gives Off That Real Heavyweight Matchup Vibe.

Browns Vs Lions

Not only did the Lions rebound from that ugly Week 1 loss to the Packers, but the offense also took off at a torrid pace, scoring ten touchdowns in two games. The Team Has Taken Over The Top Spot In EPA Per Play, and A Good Number of Football Outlets Point To Detroit's Week Three Victory Over The Ravens As The Team's Marquee Win. This browns Defense Number Five In Success rate, Number Five In EPA Per Rush Allowed, The Brown would Need More Success Against The Pass On Defense To Slow Down Jared Goff The Best Passer In The League By EPA. a Convincing Win Here For The Lions Would Prove The Real Test Of How Far The Lions Have Come From Week One and If Detroit Still Has That Super Bowl Momentum.

Texans vs Titans

Last Season, The Texans Looked Like A Team One Stable Offensive Line Away From Contention In The AFC. Building An Offensive Line Wouldn't happen overnight, but Houston Had The Talent To stay in the lead in a "pushover" Division Like The AFC South. All Fingers Point To CJ Stroud, The Young Quarterback who Looked Like He Figured Out The League Got Figured Out By The League. The Texans Have been Relying More and More on Stroud to Create Offense. Stroud Finished Fourth In Pass Rate Over Expected In Week Three, But Came Away With -0.319 EPA per passing play while under Waves Of Pressure. Will Stroud And The Texans Demonstrate The Best Of What The Houston Offense Can Produce? The Titans enter Week Four With The 27th-worst defense, But Have Held Passers to an 88.9 Passer Rating, a Solid Number. Two seasons ago, Stroud produced the ideal rookie season. Right now, Cam Ward Will Suffer through One Of The worst rookie Seasons in memory. His passing EPA, Success rate, and Passer Rating are all at The Bottom Of The League. Unfortunately for Ward, the Texans Have One Of The Most Dominant Pass Defenses In Football, Grounded By a Steady village of Pass Rush From Edge Will Anderson Jr, The Owner Of 19 pressures through Week 3(1) and Number One In Pass Rush Win Rate. The Titans have Struggled To Protect Ward, and the 0-3 Texans won't Prove His breakout game For The Number One Overall Pick.

Commanders Vs Falcons

The Commanders Had No Trouble Escaping The Possible Trap Game Against The Raiders With a 2-1 Record While Planting A 40 Point Game, 34 On Offense Lead By Backup Quarterback Marcus Mariota. The Falcons had no such success that week. As The Offenses Went From Bad To Worse, Struggling To Score and Convert Drives Against The Vikings' Defense(Defendable) To Not scoring At All Against The Panthers(Untenable). The Falcons Now Have The 25th-worst offense, and The Problem starts with Michael Peni. His First Season as the full-time starter Got Off To An Auspicious Start With 298 passing yards, One Touchdown Through The air, and One On THE ground. However, his QB rating has plummeted from 83.6 in Game One to 28.3 in Week Two and 12.5 in Week Three. He's Always Struggled With Completing Passes For Last Season, But This Year, targeting downfield has helped boost His Numbers Cosmetically. Leading Receiver Drake London Hasn't Played Up To The Standard He Set Last Season, Leading The

Team in Targets But -.34 EpA Per Catch. The Falcons will face a Commanders' defense that comes in right around the middle of the pack in pass defense, allowing a passer rating of 98.7 and 13.2 yards per completion, which is the worst in the league. The Commanders' Defensive Line Could Control The Game As One Of The Best Against The Run At Just 3.7 Yards Per Attempt. Despite The Scoreboard On Sunday, the Falcons' defense remains strong, ranking 6th in EPA per pass. No team allows fewer total Passing Yards Per Game (131.0) than Atlanta, And Only The Commanders Force A Lower Completion Percentage (57.1%). Atlanta also Has A Pass Rush. Haven't You Heard? The Falcons Stand Sixth In Sack Rate. Commanders Quarterback Jayden Daniels' Status At Quarterback Remains "In Doubt." Still, the loss of wide receiver Terry McLaurin hits a lot harder when you consider that the Commanders have already won a game without Daniels at Quarterback. Daniel's Presence Would Mitigate The Loss Of Their Number One Receiver.

Giants Vs Chargers

Giants Veteran Quarterback Russell Wilson Set The League on Fire Two Weeks Ago With A 450 Yard Passing Performance Against The Cowboys In Week Two. The 5'10 Set The Height For the league In Passing That May Remain There Til The End Of The Season. Wilson returns To His More Limited Form Against The Chiefs, and With His Vintage Touchdown Still On The Minds Of Fans, the 0-3 Giants Decide To Move On To Rookie and 26th Overall Pick Jaxson Dart. Wilson's Not Alone, Last Season Kirk Cousins Passed For 500 Plus Yards In A Game For The Falcons. They ranked 8th in Quarterback EPA by November Of Last Season Before Eventually Getting Benched for Michael Penix. Dart has Made A Couple Of Appearances Already This Season, and his success or Lack Of success this Season Won't Hurt His prospects with the team going forward; however, the Coaching Staff and GM Need To Start Looking Competitive. Unfortunately, The Giants Face the Chargers This Week, With The Chargers' Defense Coming In Fifth Best Against The Pass In Terms Of EPA. The Chargers' Defense Pressured Bo Nix 15 Times On 33 drop-backs, forcing the Quarterback Under 60% Completion and under 70 Passer Rating So Far Through Three Games. If Los Angeles Could Replicate That, the Rush Dart Will Have A Hard Time Adjusting To His New Digs. The Chargers and Justin Herbert are Off To A 3-0 Start. They dealt with pressure more than half drop-backs in Week Three Against The Broncos, And He Struggled against the defense in part because of the pressure. The Giants' Defensive Line Has Eight(8) Sacks, But Has Proven Underwhelming So Far This Season.

Broncos Vs Bengals

The Broncos Have Both Bo Nix and Sean Payton To Blame For The Team's 1-2 Start Through Three Weeks. Nix Interception Against The Colts Late Proved Fatal, and Sean Payton's Decision To Not Go On 4th and 1 Against The Chargers Opened The Door For Los Angeles and Justin Herbert To Sneak Away With The Win. Despite losing the Denver Defense harassing Justin Herbert All Game, forcing the Chargers Quarterback To Earn Every One Of His 297 Yard Performance. The Denver Defense Comes In Roaring Off Of A 20 Pressure Game And Forcing Herbert To Generate A 76.3 Passer Rating. The Broncos Need to Improve Their Play on Third down Right Now. The Offense Hovers Around The Bottom Of The League In Success Rate(37.57%) and 12-of-37 On Third Down. Nix Plays Well In The First Half Of Games When The Script And Sequence of plays Work Out as projected, 101.6 Passer Rating. But His Play Sharply declines to a 58.5 Passer Rating In The Second Half. The Bengals' Offense Looked Atrocious Against Minnesota in Week Three. Not Only Did Jake Browning put On A "Bad" Impersonation Of Joe Burrow, but he also Put On a Baroque Impersonation Of Himself. Browning Faced Pressure All Game To The Tone Of 28 Total and Finished with a -1.03 EPA. The blocking for the Bengals has struggled to win consistently in the pass blocking and run blocking aspects of the game, and the Bengals' running backs have only two runs of 10 yards or better in total. Entering The Season, no one expected Chase Brown To Activate A Higher Level Of Play And Become The Offensive Catalyst that Got The Bengals Back On Track.

Bears Vs Raiders

The Bears Avoided The Dreaded 0-3 Cliff As Ben Johnson Picked Up Hopefully The First Of Many Wins In His Career As A Coach. Caleb Williams produced his best game of the Season, with four touchdowns, 298 passing yards, 19/28 passing attempts, and a 142.6 passer rating. Williams didn't Exactly Paint A New Picture Of His Game. He's still second in target percentage of passes and hunts downfield plays, but Williams' quarterback theatrics worked against the Cowboys' porous defense. Williams And The Bears still Have The 11th-best EPA per pass in football as the Bears Prepare To Face The Raiders' Defense, ranked 22nd by ESPN's Efficiency Metric. Geno Smith Enters Week Four With the Raiders On A Two-Game Skid, But Smith Put Together His Best Game Of The Season In A Blowout Loss To The Commanders With Three Touchdowns, On 19/29 For 288 Passing Yards. Smith Likes To Hunt Downfield Targets (11.6 Average Depth Of Target Against The Commanders). He Holds The Ball(3.12 Time To Throw), And Cleared Some Of His Turnover Problems In Week Three. He'll Need To Stay Clean Against A Bears Defense With A 4.08% Interception Percentage—The Bears' Defense Ranks 24th. Players like Gervon Dexter Sr. have Stepped Up Along The Defensive Line, But Losses Like Cornerback Jaylon Johnson Have Made Defending The Pass Especially Deep Down Field. I Expect A Shootout Between These Two Teams.